SBIR Advocate Dr. Tomasz Jannson Passes Away

April 30, 2018

The Small Business Technology Council–NSBA’s high-tech arm–was saddened to hear that Dr. Tomasz Jannson, Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, of Physical Optics Corporation (POC) passed away on April 25, 2018, after a long illness. Dr. Jannson was an expert in physical optics, diffraction, phase conjugation, coherence, and optical information processing. He received his M.S.E.E. in 1968 and his Ph.D. in physics in 1973 from Warsaw Technical University, Poland, where he continued his research as faculty member, director of two optical laboratories, and Principal Investigator of several research programs in the areas of information processing, holography, and electro-optics.

When he co-founded POC in 1985, he became a leading force in orienting the company toward applications and product-oriented photonic technologies. Over the years, Dr. Jannson provided technical and managerial leadership on a large number of technologies that began with Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs and were later transitioned into production both within POC and in numerous spin-off companies and license agreements. Dr. Jannson was also elected as a fellow of the SPIE on July 21, 1999. Dr. Jannson authored or contributed to hundreds of technical papers, had 93 granted patents, with 9 patent applications still pending.”

Beyond his work with Physical Optics, he was a champion for SBIR firms, and other R&D focused small businesses like his. His support for the Small Business Technology Council over the years has been invaluable in allowing us to represent the interests of SBIR and small business firms in Washington. Dr. Jannson’s presence, both in the realm of science and the SBIR community, will be greatly missed. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Joanna Jannson, CEO of Physical Optics. Joanna has requested in lieu of flowers or other donations, that those who wish to, to please make donations to the Small Business Technology Council instead. To make a donation you may contact David Nadler, of the SBTC staff at 386-317-5627 or davidnadler@brighthouse.com or use this online form: